A screw element of the generic type is disclosed in EP 0 869 287 B1. A screw element of this type serves, in particular, for screwing into the widest variety of materials, such as wood or plastic, and specifically without prior pre-drilling of a core hole. The screw element is directly screwed into the respective material, wherein a displacement effect is achieved in that the material is initially penetrated by the threaded tip. The thread, which runs up to the front end, when viewed in the screw-in direction, acts as a gripping tip, in order to achieve good engagement and penetration by the screw element with low axial compression, that is to say, mainly by way of rotation alone. In the known screw element, the region having the polygonal core cross section should extend in each case up to the terminal front end of the threaded tip. Moreover, the polygonal core cross section should have side surfaces which are curved in a convex manner, and corners which may likewise be rounded. The corners of the polygon lie on an enveloping circle of which the diameter may be smaller than/equal to, but in particular also equal to, the diameter of the cylindrical shank core of the threaded shank. It is to be achieved here by the known connection element that chip formation is largely avoided when screwing-in, in that the self-tapping effect of the connection element is based on the threaded tip, on account of its polygonal core cross section, pressing itself into the material, a radial displacement effect being achieved by a torque moment which rises and ebbs during rotation.
In the case of this known screw element, however, in particular when screwing into hardwood, splitting arises on account of the displacement effect of the screw tip which is polygonal in its cross section. In addition, a comparatively high axial force is necessary during initial screwing-in for the screw tip, having the thread, to grip.
The present invention is based on the object of further improving a screw element of the generic type with respect to its properties, in order to, in particular, largely avoid splitting and to further reduce the axial forces for screwing-in.